At the Gate
"Wheelchairs in wild spaces shouldn't be an anomaly some thirty years since the
Americans with Disabilities Act, but here I am, in front of another gate,
asserting my right to exist in nature. The very fact of me seems to rankle the
men I am here to meet. King Estates Open Space Park is a verdant area of native
grasses, wildflowers, and spectacular vistas overlooking the San Francisco
Bay.
During the darkest days of the pandemic, sheltered at home and half-crazed with fear, my daily sojourns here replenished and sustained me. But today I am shut out, blocked from the most usable entrance to the park by a poorly designed and inaccessible chain-link fence."
Yomi Sachiko Wrong, writer, activist, and disability justice dreamer shares more in this short and stirring piece.